Remains of an Ancient Hall of Audience, &c. At Káli Béning

The temple which I have just described stands close to the north side of the village of Káli Béning, east of which is the river of that name; and as I had never before heard of any thing further in this quarter, I fancied my work was over. I was, however, most agreeably surprised, on being told by my Javan guides that there was something more to be seen directly south of the village behind us. We accordingly passed through it, and barely one hundred and fifty yards from the temple, in a high sugar-cane and palma christi plantation, we came suddenly on two pair of very magnificent gigantic porters, all facing eastwards, each having stood about twelve feet from the others. The pedestals of all these statues are nearly covered, or rather entirely sunk into the ground. The height of each figure, from the top of the pedestal, is five feet one inch and a half, and breadth at the shoulders three feet six inches. They are generally much better executed, defined, and consequently more marked and striking in their appearance, than those I had seen. The countenance is much more marked and expressive, the nose more prominent and pointed, the eyebrows meeting in a formidable frown. The hair flows all round and down the back in large ringlets and curls, and on the ankles, instead of beads, are the small circular bells common in India, under the name of googoor. These figures are called Gopolo. Behind the second pair of porters, or west of them, is a heap of ruins of brick and mortar, which proved on examination to be the remains of an ancient hall of audience or state, originally standing on fourteen pillars, with a verandah all round it standing on twenty-two pillars. The porters guarded this building exactly in the centre of its eastern front: the nearest pair scarcely thirty feet distant from it. The greatest length of the building was east and west. The inner apartment over all gave forty-seven feet in length, including the pillars: the width of the hall was twenty-eight feet and a half in the same way. A verandah, of twelve feet and a half wide all round over the pillars, surrounded the hall.

It struck me forcibly, that the house at Káli Sári was formerly the residence of some great Hindu Raja of Java; the superb temple at Káli Béning, the place of his devotions and prayers; this hall, a little south of it, that of state or audience, perhaps also of recreation after his devotions. Other ruins of brick-work, without any mixture of stone, were close by, and perhaps served as out-houses.